The Advanced Options section primarily contains additional options that let you modify the default plug-in behavior. In most cases, you do not need to modify these options to have a successful export. The section also holds additional settings specific to the Collada file type.
Units
The Units option lets you view the conversion factor (scaling value) the plug-in uses as well as modify the conversion units.
This does not change the System unit settings in Maya.
- Scale Factor
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Displays the conversion value or Scale Factor that the plug-in applies to the entire scene during export.
By default, the Maya FBX plug-in uses the system units set in the host application to determine what units to use to export the FBX file. This means that the default export Scale Factor is always 1.0, and the plug-in applies no unit scale conversion during the export process.
You can modify what units the Maya FBX plug-in uses to export your scene if you change the File units converted to option. If you change the File units converted to option, you modify the Scale Factor value and units applied to the exported data.
- Automatic option
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Activate the Automatic option if you want the Maya FBX plug-in to automatically identify and set the units of the destination file to match units of the host application
When you activate Automatic, the Scene units converted to option is disabled, although it shows the resolved unit & Scale Factor. If you disable the Automatic option, the Scene units converted to option becomes available.
When Automatic is active, the File Units will match the system units, and the plug-in applies no conversion. The displayed Scale Factor is 1.0 in this case.
- File units converted to
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Use this menu to specify the units to which you want to convert your exported scene. Modifying this setting directly affects the Scale Factor value applied to the exported data.
The plug-in determines the default units by looking at the Maya System Units option in the Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences > Settings category.
In the FBX UI, the displayed Scale Factor uses the FBX Unit setting for its calculation. The plug-in determines the FBX Unit setting from the host application system units.
On export, the plug-in applies no default scaling since the export and system units match. This results in a Scale factor of 1.0.
Note:Verify the system units your Maya scene uses so that you can control whether the plug-in needs to scale your scene. This way, it exports with the units you want. Maya lets you change the System Units without affecting the scale of your scene. Changing the system unit in Maya avoids scaling on export when not required.
Example
If you export a file that is in the same Unit setting as the System Units of your Maya scene, there is a match of units and the displayed Scale Factor is 1.0. No scale conversion is applied.
Axis conversion
The Maya FBX Exporter has two options for Axis Conversion in the UI. Y-up, or Z-up.
By default, the FBX Exporter always exports the Up Axis of the Host application. For Maya, this means that all scenes are exported with a Y-up world axis.
You can export your scene to a Z-up axis if the destination application does not support the Y-up world axis and cannot convert the Y-up world axis of your scene.
The FBX Exporter applies Axis Conversions only to root elements of the outgoing scene. If you have animation on a root object that must be converted on export, these animation curves are resampled to apply the proper axis conversion. To avoid resampling of these animation curves, make sure to add a Root Node (dummy object) as a parent of the animated object in your scene, before you export to FBX.
UI
These options let you set display options of the UI. This lets you show or hide the Warning Manager and FBX UI windows.
You can customize these display options, save them as a new Preset, and share this preset file. See the Creating a custom preset section for more information.
- Show/Hide Warning Manager
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This option lets you disable the Warnings and Errors dialog box that appears during the export process. The Warning Manager is active by default.
What is the difference between an Error and a Warning?
The Maya FBX plug-in uses errors and warnings to alert you of conversions and potential problems during the export process.
When something unexpected occurs during the conversion, the plug-in reports an error. This error occurs when the plug-in encounters an unknown behavior and the conversion is going to produce an unexpected result.
When the plug-in must apply a conversion to the source data for it to be in a format that the destination application can read, the Maya FBX plug-in reports a warning. This warning is not the indication of a problem, but instead exists to provide a report of conversions that the plug-in has applied to the incoming data.
- Generate log data
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Deactivate the Generate log data option if you do not want warning and error information written to the log. However, if you do deactivate this option, the FBX Exporter/Importer does not write log data (such as errors and warnings,) to the generated log file. However, the file name and time stamp are still recorded in the log.
The Maya FBX plug-in stores log files with the FBX presets, in C:\My Documents\Maya\FBX\Logs.
Why do I want to do this?
Occasionally, some batch imports/exports create very large warning/error files, and in this case you might want to disable this option.
Normally, it is recommended to leave the Generate log data option active, which is the default, as this helps you identify problems with file conversions.
Log files are important for tracking errors and warnings on export. It is not recommended to deactivate this option when you export a series of files, for example, in an automation or batch export because you will not receive any feedback about any issues that concern files during export. This lack of feedback can make it difficult to identify problem files which, in turn, makes diagnosing problems difficult.
Because log data is appended to the same log file, after a while the size of this file become large. It is a good practice to delete the log file after a few exports, or before processing batch export or import.
FBX file format
This section lets you determine what form you want your FBX file to take.
- Type
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Save your FBX file as one of these two types, Binary or ASCII. While binary is the normal format for FBX files, ASCII files give you a plain text version of the file format, which lets you search the file for information retrieval.
Note: You cannot view ASCII FBX files in the FBX for QuickTime viewer. Instead, save your FBX file as a binary file.Mode Function Binary Activate this option to save the FBX file in the standard format. ASCII Activate this option to save the FBX file in ASCII format. Note:If you export your file to ASCII format in FBX versions 2010 and earlier, you cannot embed media.
- FBX version
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Expand the FBX Version to specify an FBX version to use for export. This setting defaults to the latest version of the FBX plug-in installed.
Change this option only when you want to import your file using an older plug-in version; where the source plug-in version and destination plug-in version do not match. The following table lists the different versions available for you to select from the FBX exporter.
Version Description FBX 2016/2017 Select this FBX version to export a file that is compatible with Maya Ext 2, Maya LT Ext 3, Maya 2016, Maya 2016 Ext 1, Maya LT 2016 and Maya LT 2016 Ext 1 and Ext 2. This is the default FBX version. FBX 2014/2015 Select this FBX version to export a file that is compatible with Autodesk 2014 applications and 2014 FBX plug-ins. FBX 2013 Select this FBX version to export a file that is compatible with Autodesk 2013 applications and 2013 FBX plug-ins. FBX 2012 Select this FBX version to export a file that is compatible with Autodesk 2012 applications and 2012 FBX plug-ins. FBX 2011 Select this FBX version to export a file that is compatible with Autodesk 2011 applications, 2011 FBX plug-ins. FBX 2010 Select this FBX version to export a file that is compatible with Autodesk 2010 applications and 2010 FBX plug-ins. FBX 2009 Select this FBX version to export a file that is compatible with Autodesk 2009 applications and 2009 FBX plug-ins. FBX 2006 Select this FBX version to export a file that is compatible with Autodesk 2006 FBX plug-ins and MotionBuilder 7.5, 7.0, and 6.0..